One of the words in common usage nowadays is transactional — that I do this for you and you do this for me. We can apply that to God — expecting to get so much grace out of so many prayers. But the bible teaches that kind of mechanical thinking does not apply to prayer. Instead we need to think organically, in terms of growth. Just as from the heavens
the rain and snow come down And do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, Giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, So shall my word be. Our prayers are not tit for tat but fertilizer which will produce fruit at the proper time. In addition, when Jesus teaches us about prayer he warns us that we can inhibit the effectiveness of prayer by a lack of forgiveness. He includes a petitition about forgiveness in the Lord’s Prayer and then he even appends a warning at the end of the prayer about the need to forgive. “If you forgive men their transgressions, your heavenly Father will forgive you. But if you do not forgive men, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions.” Powerful lessons as we fulfill our Lenten practice of praying.
